Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Granderson hitting cleanup for first time as a Yankee

NEW YORK – Curtis Granderson jumped into the cleanup spot for the first time as a Yankee on Sunday, bringing his team-leading 32 homers into the No. 4 slot in the club’s batting order.

“He’s been swinging the bat pretty good the last couple of days,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s had some success off of [Josh] Beckett as well. With some of our guys out, I just felt I’d put Curtis there.”

Granderson entered play on Sunday with 10 hits in 36 career at-bats against Beckett (.278), owning three home runs and two triples. He had just five hits in his last 29 at-bats, but has homered in back-to-back games.

“He went through somewhat of a difficult time but he seems to be coming out of it,” Girardi said. “Maybe it was the couple of days off that we gave him that seemed to help him. I like the way he’s swinging now.”

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